Great work on this underdiscussed topic! I have a central african crossbow in my collection and im making a video about it soon, i personally believe the africans invented the crossbow of the stone age
It wouldn't surprise me if those crossbows, if not invented locally, had more ancient roots in the silk road trade route that went both to Europe and North Africa.
I'm really curious about the long stocks on these crossbows! I've only shot a crossbow once at an SCA event, and was a horrible shot. But there's clearly a reason the long stock makes sense, or no one would bother hauling it around. Setting it in the ground to draw the string, maybe?
Hey, some more African history! As someone who's roots pretty much lie in Europe for the last 40,000 years, it's always interesting to learn about other cultures than my own. And honestly, considering the history my part of the world has, that of Africa almost seems like that of a dark-fantasy novel sometimes, with it's alien but real cultures and civilizations. Thanks for making this stuff lad!
It didn’t cause the demise of armoured knights. It forced knights to invest on full plate armour. Full plate armour didn’t exist during battle of Crecy as they'd be wearing brigandine, shoulder & arm guards & leg guards over mail. The stereotypical white armour was developed in the 15th century & during the Renaissance it evolved into the Black and White Armour.
That's quite an ingeniously simple (and reliable, I suppose) trigger mechanism on the example collected by du Chailu - it is absolutely worthy of admiration.
What a wonderful breakdown of something that I didn't know about. I wish they were more channels like yours teaching people about subjects that aren't so popular
Although that was a good joke on the guy discovering gorillas and the pigmy people, it actually means to find something unexpectedly. It doesn't necessarily mean to be the first to find something. Also, great video!
Cool channel. It is odd that you don't have more subscribers considering how well you are covering a niche in the market that is big yet not well covered from what I can see. Putting the names of the tribes and places on the screen would help the way my memory works and it would make it easier to look stuff up. The one detail that was noticeably missing was the draw weights which a weapons specialist would have been saying. Also the speeds and weights. It looks to me like the big benefit is the fact that you could carry a lot of ammo by comparison to the large heavy arrows you get with an English longbow. The poisoning of the tips is a powerful extra factor. I wonder why Europeans never figured that technique out. The side with the crossbows lost the Battle of Crecy (so not such a boon to the French). The seemingly primitive longbow won the day. Still, crossbows require less training so you can get an army together more easily with them. Slow rate of fire is a downside compared to regular bows if your logistics are good enough to keep your guys supplied with plenty of arrows.
Id look to the Milanese or the hussites for good crossbowman. Also, they focused on armor penetration and stopping power. Smaller bolts just dont have that.
Yeah I probably should have clarified that the Battle of Crecy was a response to the French use of crossbow against armored knights. The invention of the longbow to counteract it.
@@FromNothingLate comment I know, but the English Longbow was inspired by the Welsh Longbow that 💀'd a bunch of English before both sides agreed to a peace treaty.
Oof.....almost everything you said about the hundred years war was wrong/confused. The battle of Crecy famously saw the English longbow (not the crossbow which was often used by continental armies) against the french knights. Despite the french knights being soundly defeated, armor did not decline in use until almost 300 years later when guns became more sophisticated and armies became larger more professional forces. Crossbows we're popular in European armies since long before plate armor, and declined in use across a similar period of time due to changes in technology and tactics (basically, guns)
Very intresting, always found it quite unique how Africa had such low usage of the cross bow despite the large numbers many empires could field. It also is more probable the cross bow was natively discovered.
From an outsider looking in I'm going to guess it's because crossbow are expensive to make. No reason to make a bunch when your people already use the much cheaper bow competently all the time.
@@ikengaspirit3063 Well, I suppose... But wouldn't it be more common as a bolt? We see something similar, but usually with blowdarts. But that's a whole different dynamic.
Fascinating look! Have you made videos on the Kongo kingdom? It's hard to find out their military history, arms and armor other than their wars with Portugal itself.
Glad you addressed the questionable association with European crossbows, even in the FN discord server people often seem to take it for granted that African crossbows were an imitation of Portuguese ones even though there isn't really any solid evidence for that.
correction buddy crossbows were independently invented all over the world there are crossbows in europe from the neolithic used for hunting made with just wood
I'm assuming that Western and Central African kingdoms were well underway towards creating fire-arms. If we're discussing convergent cultural evolution than I should point out how Chinese kingdoms had invented the crossbow and later gunpowder. As such, crossbows in Africa, gunpowder-ish substance was probably being considered by some handymen.
I mean some west west African kingdoms had adopted guns to the point there were entire regiments specialised in firearms and blacksmiths emerged because Europeans would usually send them faulty/out dated ones
@@rolandorodriguez4504 if that is your view, there is nothing i can say to change your mind. "Western culture" or "European culture" is not homogeneous. indeed, the very strength of modernism, which you can equate with "European modernism", is that it is a pluralist system. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You also have these from nothing clones always commenting playing mind tricks. He always uses Europe as a reference or standard it’s unhealthy for Africans to do so
Great video as always. Just one suggestion Jebari, it would be helpful if you showed a map with the highlighted area when you mention where something is from or where something happened.
I wonder if you hunt with a poison arrow, does the cooking process make the poisoned meat safe to eat and if so does it have to be cooked in a particular way like boiling?
According to ATA EPE bows, arrows and archery of Africa, only a small area around the puncture site had to be removed for the meat to be safe to eat. Also the poison use was probably heart poison which affects the operation of the heart.
The honest answer is that they didn't hunt animals for eating using poison unless they were truly desperate. Most African hunters prized drinking the blood. Sometimes with salt and spices which I personally think is based.
Africans also brought their version of the crossbow to the southern United States and taught the native Americans how to use them. They used them for hunting bc slaves weren't allowed to have guns.
Slight correction, the hunting crossbow from Scandinavian is not attested after the high middle age making it difficult to suggest that this was the origin of the african design.
some of the pictured weapons show obvious differences in construction and approach compared to european crossbows. the very long tillers for example indicate that they might have evolved from a spear-thrower or a blowgun combined with a small hunting bow, or that their creators used a more stretchy string material. even if they were all introduced by europe, they were still altered to better suit their needs. if your culture is practiced at aiming a blowgun then a longer crossbow will be more effective. if you have potent poisons you'd focus on making them nimble and quick to reload over strength. if you need a lot of crossbows, you'd create efficiencies like the simpler trigger to make them faster and cheaper.
I think it is common general knowledge that crossbows were invented in China and not Europe, and Crecy is viewed as a victory for Longbows not crossbows. Other than that, big FN fan.
When 18th century Europeans would ay things like that I always think why they didn't have the repeating crossbow. Yeah it has a tendency to jam, but still.
Independent invention is possible, but it does not seem to have been invented independently anywhere else, and the fact that it was in a relatively limited area of west-central Africa suggests that it could have been introduced into the region by Europeans too. PS the battle of Crecy was the longbow.
@@willfakaroni5808@ willfakaroni5808, there is no evidence to show either way. you wonder why though, in most respects, crossbows are worse than a regular bow.
Nice, I didn't know about those ones! I just discovered you, and having a serious channel about African history is a nice change of pace! All those ancient empires absolutely deserve a better spotlight in the general eye. I think you're not particularly specialized in arms and armors, but I thought a collab with Da'Mon Stith could be quite cool :) . I also thought the association of crossobows with China was relatively well known. What is not, though, is that the Ancient Greeks had gastraphetes by the V century BC, which is more or less contemporary with the first known Chinese crossbows, but they weren't very popular. The medieval crossbow leading to the demise of armored warfare is also a misconception (that came with gunpowder, and even then i took several centuries): crossbows weren't actually more powerful than warbows, because, though their bow part was usually more powerful, the distance of acceleration was shorter, resulting in equivalent performances. The real advantage of the weapon is, as you correctly pointed out, that you don't need much training to be able to use it effectively, whereas you need years to be able to fight with a warbow. The battle of Crécy itself is also a display of the power of the English longbow rather than the crossbow, with the main users of crossbows at that battle being the Genoese crossbowen fighting for the French side!
@@ajporsche4633 I mean it was written mahmud kuti who definitely wasn’t an Arab a scholar you might be thinking of ibn battuta and his accounts of the mali empire 🤔 I mean he was morracan and while we may just generalise all North Africans with “Arabs” it’s a strong possibility he was native Amazigh of North African descent
I've never heard a crossbow described as "Degenerate" before- like damn, don't hold back Mr Explorer, tell us how you really feel! But yeah, given how isolated the Congo region is, it's not exactly a long stretch to think maybe someone who lived there started exploring ways to ergonomically hold a bowstring back in a ready-to-shoot position using a mechanism, and made one that worked.
Thanks for this video. African bows and arrows hardly ever get talked about, even though they literally originated in Africa around 70,000 years ago. There is no bow and arrows, there is no archery without Africans. That's a fact.
@@beanabong2896 For Honor would be a perfect candidate since it'll perfectly represent the melee weapons, and the Crossbows featured in the video would make feats out of it
There was a book recently. Red wolf black leopard, that used African mythology as a jumping off point for a fantasy world, much like Tolkien used European mythology. It's a great book. I recommend it heartily
Hey man. Been subbed for a year or more now. I would not know any African history or culture if it weren’t for you. You’re the best channel for it ngl. Thanks for what you do bro. Never change. - some random whitey
So these were used for hunting rather than warfare? I've seen a few examples of these crossbows, and ye its always the same claim that they were introduced to Africa by Europeans, I wouldn't put it passed these 19th century Eurocentric to have made the clsim they taught Africans how to walk and eat too 😂.
@Admire Kashiri It's plausible that it was introduced from Europe. Just inconclusive. Unfortunately we have no evidence of crossbows in West Africa that predates the Portuguese.
Nice video as always. Always interesting to learn from a rarely explored field. Keep up the good work. I like it how the explorer is like: their aim was pretty crap, when in all likelyhood intention might have been to intimidate and deter and not maim and kill. Although I'd say that European crossbows or evenearly firearms didn't make the mounted knight outdated . But that's not the field of research being explored here so its a bit of a tangant.
isn't it strange we have black history month, but as I remember in school, we never learned ANY African history. all history is worth studying, I wish we could have more African history in our schools and less CRT and communism
@@innitbruv-lascocomics9910 I’m not sure that true but, it is self evident that teachers are injecting their beliefs into our children and the education system leans left. Hard. There has been confirmed communist indoctrination, I assume you know because you didn’t address that part of the comment. I would be shocked if CRT isn’t being taught in schools. To be clear I don’t care what political stance a teacher has, to each his own, but I think indoctrination is wrong. Also I would just love to have learned more about African history in school, it should be taught. our children would benefit from a more accurate education of history.
Really appreciate the shout out to Inuit technical achievement! Been sharing your channel every chance I get, and because of you I've placed visiting Great Zimbabwe high up on the bucket list.
I'd love to see a video of these. There are "ancient weapons" programs that either make or obtain such weapons. I have no idea if they ever featured these crossbows but I'd love to see it.
Nice video. How ever some of your claims seem to be purposefully missleading. Crossbows not ivented in Europe but China. No. Its uncertain in fact who did it first. Its known since 7-5 century BC. You never heard of Greek Arbalesta? Later used also by the Romans? Its odd you never mention dates by the way. As the west African crossbows are used way later in history. And comparing it to 15th century crissbows is a overstretch. Just like saying it was for the rich and poor Europeans used crossbows like the African ones. Hell no :-) . In my country it was very popular with poor. Of vastly higher quality than what you claim. Made out of either spring metal or composite. Longbow was in fact hobby for the nobles. Sure, there were low quality hunting crossbows, but thats a bit different thing. You sometimes try to compare things that cant be compared to proove a point. There are no proofs of crossbows in Africa prior to 1600-1700. By that time it could have gotten there from anywhere. Or, as its fairly simple design, it could be invented on its own. Like a bow. Or pile of rocks - pyramid. Arabs had knowledge of the old Greek scrolls, just as Europeans were already trading there. Who knows. But I wouldnt compare it to European 12-16 th century crossbows. Its like comparring mule to a war horse.
Yooo your channel is the COOLEST channel on RU-vid!! It takes a lot of time, energy, and research to find relatable, racist-free, and bias-free information on African culture and here it is! As an African-American, I've always wanted to know more about great African empires and kingdoms, but it's hard to find an entry point to learning about them. Your channel has helped me find those entry points. Thank you so much for your work!!
Portugal and Spain was ruled by Africans for 700 years include ALLOT of Europe soooo.. just like the guitar comes From “Spain” but it was actually brought by African same for the all the great things in Europe even the name Europe come from a Hamitic people
"Discovered" means something is recorded and the knowledge spread in other cultures and lands that had no previous knowledge of said thing. ..Stop trying to be a victim, act like an adult.
Well, first of all, since when can victims only be children? Most victims throughout history have been adults. Secondly the entire point of my content is to avoid the "victim mentality" and instead spread knowledge and pride about African history so your comment is nonsensical. Lastly I suggest you look up the definition of "discovery" because this is the one I know: Be the first to find or observe (a place, substance, or scientific phenomenon
@@FromNothing "I discovered your channel through a friend". "I discovered jazz when I was 15 ", yet another. Prime examples of the use of the word. Your childish insistence that Africa is entirely the victim of others is historically wrong and disengenuous. You ignore the endemic indigenous slavery, oppression, tribalism, racism and sexual violence common throughout many African cultures, the corruption and tribalism that has held Africa back, the role Islam has played in dividing Africa, and many other issues.
@rowbearly6128 Just because you use the word "discover" in that way doesn't mean it's correct. It's no different than saying "I'm starving" even though I highly doubt you're indeed starving. I also don't get why you're so insistent on me wanting to play like a victim when if you watch any videos on my channel, you'll see quite the opposite. I always create content that educates and uplifts people and I only mention oppression when relevant. Hell, read the "About" section of my channel. The entire reason I made this channel is because I'm sick of learning that I was nothing more than a victim and a slave, hence the motto at the end of every video "We don't come From Nothing. I like to learn and teach about the positive and interesting parts of African history. Also the endemic slavery, tribalism, and corruption are things that I've brought up many many times in other videos but if you want to assume that I'm ignoring them, then that's on you. Keep being angry over nothing. Lastly, you've called me childish twice. I'd appreciate an actual discussion without the name calling. Name calling in and of itself is the only childish part of all of this. If your next reply isn't both logical and respectful, then I won't entertain this discussion any further. Have a good night sir/ma'am.
@@FromNothing Research slavery. My, and everyone elses ancestors were enslaved. Big deal. Plenty of places colonized and now some of the most successful nations on earth. Plenty occupied by foreign armies and now successful. Look inwards for your oppression. Africa needs to develop the institutions neccessary for a working democratic Government, but African traditions, religions and tribalism preclude that happening. Nobody elses fault but Africas ,at this point.
